The year 2016 was dreadful for many, and something similar could be said for the top brass at the Hollywood studio Warner Bros. Although Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad – two films from the superhero franchise they share with the publisher DC Comics – earned significant sums, when all was said and done, or rather on the list of the year's most commercially successful films, they ended up far behind Captain America: Civil War, backed by the rival studios Disney and Marvel. Moreover, both films were met with sharp criticism from reviewers and even some fans, and the attempt to surpass Marvel's cinematic universe by copying the formula of crossover-connected superhero films had so far yielded infamous results.
Therefore, in 2017, with the exception of the most hardcore DC fanatics, there wasn't any particularly pronounced hope that Justice League, the film representing the first major gathering of DC heroes, would finally confirm the success of the franchise and its connected universe in the same way Marvel had managed five years earlier with The Avengers. Hopes were even lower after news of an extremely complicated production, namely the extensive reshooting of scenes, as well as the family tragedy of director Zack Snyder, which forced him to leave the set.
The plot of the film follows the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), after Bruce Wayne, alias Batman (Ben Affleck), concludes that Earth is threatened by danger from various alien creatures and other villains who now know the planet has no one to protect it. Batman therefore decides to enlist his constant collaborator Diana Prince, alias Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), and with her form a superhero team to be joined by Arthur Curry, alias Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Barry Allen, alias The Flash (Ezra Miller), and Victor Stone, alias Cyborg (Ray Fisher). This happens just in time, as Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) arrives on Earth with his army of Parademons to conquer it. Batman and the gang realise they'll stand little chance against him, especially if Steppenwolf gets hold of the so-called Mother Boxes, devices that grant their possessors tremendous power. These same devices could, on the other hand, serve the superheroes to carry out a desperate plan: to resurrect their fallen comrade in the Kryptonian ship.
The good news with Justice League is that it's better than Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, although that wasn't exactly a high bar. That the DC universe can be the basis for something of quality, or at least watchable, is evidenced by the case of Wonder Woman, released a few months earlier; Gal Gadot once again establishes herself here as the only coherent or likeable protagonist of the superhero troupe, although her character simply isn't in the film enough to significantly improve the impression. The rest of the gang, however, suffers from simply not being sufficiently defined or highlighted – Momoa as Aquaman mostly shows off his muscles, Fisher as Cyborg is buried under a bizarre mask and costume, and Ezra Miller, on the other hand, tries too hard to give his one-dimensional character some sort of comedic note, as a result of which he ends up as an irritating and bratty urchin. The situation is even sadder with the villain, who looks like a generic monster from a series of cheap video games and whom viewers will forget even before the closing credits roll.
The screenplay itself, which involved Joss Whedon, the author of the praised Avengers (who later supervised post-production and reshoots), is burdened by a lack of originality, as well as a rather cheap attempt to resolve the problem of Superman's absence. It won't be a surprise to anyone familiar with the history of the comic-book template or the Hollywood way of doing business, and it was more or less clear to everyone that Superman's absence would be temporary. For a moment, there was a chance to complicate things through the possibility that the resurrected superhero, due to traumatic experiences with the afterlife, would turn into an irrational monster or villain, but it wasn't utilised. In the end, it all boils down to an excuse for a generic display of superhero powers in a generic final showdown, which only an unusual setting (northern Russia) and a couple of visual details make different from the CGI-destruction scenes that could be seen in a myriad of other superhero films.
Aside from underdeveloped characters, Justice League also suffers from inconsistencies in direction, style, and atmosphere, which led many critics to speculate that it was essentially two films – Snyder's dark, serious "noirish" drama and Whedon's colourful, bright, and "relaxed" superhero picture book. While some argue that Whedon's approach was a step in the right direction, those favouring Zack Snyder found his Director's Cut, finished and streamed on HBO Max four years later, to be much better.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
(Note: The text in the original Croatian version was posted here
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